We thought that creepy congressman in "The Dark Knight Rises" looked familiar. And sure enough: The man whose kidnapping - by a catty Anne Hathaway - helps renew the battle for the city of Gotham? That's Houston native Brett Cullen.

Cullen has played solid roles in some of the best TV of the past few years, including "Lost," "Friday Night Lights," "Damages" and "The West Wing." He'll be on the big screen with Harrison Ford in next year's "42," a film about the life of Jackie Robinson. And this fall, he'll stop in Houston for an appearance at his alma mater, the University of Houston's School of Theatre and Dance.

More Information

'Legacy: A celebration of UH School of Theatre and Dance'

When: Sept. 7

Tickets: $25-$50; on sale soon

Information: Wortham Theatre box office, 713-743-2929

We caught up with Cullen last week to talk about his most recent projects - and the loyalty he feels to his school and his old hometown.

First, Batman: Cullen said he got involved with "The Dark Knight Rises" primarily because he wanted to work with director Chris Nolan.

"Besides," he said, "of all the franchises the studios have done, this is the truest and most interesting of all the superhero movies. There's a darkness and a reality to it. There's not just a good guy and a bad guy - there are a lot of gray areas."

The darkness of the Batman movies has been discussed constantly in the past couple of weeks. Parents, psychologists and TV talking heads have been quick to link that darkness to the violence in Aurora, Colo., where a gunman killed 12 and wounded dozens of others at a midnight showing of "The Dark Knight Rises."

Cullen is clear: He doesn't believe the movie's violence - which is plentiful - had any connection to the shooting.

"I can't imagine the movie inspired it," he said. "I can't say that movies are the reason this is happening. You have to look at television as well. You have to look at books, at every form of what people see. If you really want to see something scary, turn on the nightly news. To me, for people to say 'look at the films' is ludicrous. The world we live in needs to change."

Nolan and stars Christian Bale and Hathaway have issued statements expressing their shock and sympathy after the shootings; in fact, Bale made a trip to Colorado to meet with victims last week.

"God bless (Bale) for doing what he did," Cullen said. "He took his time to go down there because of how deeply he felt about the situation. I think that's a wonderful thing. It's a way of feeling a little bit - not much, I'd imagine - but a little bit of the wound."

Cullen's done a lot of thinking about the wounds Aurora has left - on the families involved and on the national psyche.

"It's so heartbreaking, so sad and so horrible," he said. "You have to question: What are we doing wrong that this is possible? I don't really have an answer."

Cullen plans to spend time in his hometown next month. In recent years, he has taught master classes and spoken to graduate students in the University of Houston's theater program. Now he is organizing an event - open to the public - that will celebrate the career of Cecil Pickett, a longtime UH professor and acting coach.

Pickett, who died 15 years ago, taught at the university from 1970 to 1988 and trained a number of students who went on to high-profile acting careers.

"He was a genius," Cullen said. "He was my mentor, and he was a brilliant actor and a brilliant acting teacher."

For 32 years Cullen has been able to support himself and his family through acting, and he gives Pickett the credit for making his career possible.

"When I showed up at UH, my hair was past my waist," Cullen said, "I had a goatee. I wasn't a theater geek; I wasn't an actor. But Cecil Pickett molded me and taught me."

In April, Cullen joined a handful of celebrity alums, including Dennis Quaid, to honor Pickett with a panel discussion about acting. Now Cullen plans to return to celebrate Pickett's career with "Legacy: A Celebration of UH School of Theatre and Dance," an evening of song, dance, comedy and stage performance that will support an endowed scholarship in Pickett's name.

The show will present a variety of alumni from the university's theater program: actor Robert Wuhl; actor Brent Spiner; and singers Sally Mayes, Sharon Montgomery and Billy Stritch, who formed a jazz vocal trio in the '80s. These alums - and a number of others - will gather at the university Sept. 7 for what Cullen called "an evening of music, stories and jokes."

The UH School of Theatre and Dance has the potential to compete with Yale and NYU and all the other schools that have a national reputation, Cullen said. Creating a full scholarship for a UH theater student will help to build the program's reputation and attract serious students from across the country.

"I find that the more I give back, the more comes to me," Cullen said. "And I want to give back to that school, because that school enabled me to do what I do today."

The event also will remind the university - and all of Houston - just how rich the program's talent is, he said.

"The number of incredibly talented people who came out of the University of Houston and that department is astounding," Cullen said. "I just think we have to celebrate that."